Marathon Sunday

And here we are again - the London Marathon - and trust me I am delighted to be watching the front-runners on the tele with my feet up (Photo from The Telegraph, last year, at Tower Bridge). Recall, Dear Reader, 2009 a disaster when it comes to marathoning : two races, one cow suit and a combined ten miles of soul destroying misery. Of my five races, I have not once finished running. Never say never, but another marathon highly unlikely - these days, seven miles pain-free a luxury.

The inaugural London marathon in'81 had 7,741 entrants, 6,255 of whom completed the race. The first Men's Elite Race was tied between American Dick Beardsley and Norwegian Inge Simonsen, who crossed the finish line holding hands in 2 hours, 11 minutes, 48 seconds. The first Women's Elite Race was won by Briton Joyce Smith in 2:29:57. Last year's race had 35,859 entrants with 35,268 finishing (this does not make me feel especially good as I bonked out at mile 25). This year there are over 37,000 runners.

Course records have been set eight times in the men's race and eight times in the women's race. World records have been set four times. Khalid Khannouchi, representing the United States, set the men's world record in 2:05:38 in 2002. The following year, Paula Radcliffe set the women's world record in 2:15:25, which stands today and may not be broken for twenty years - no woman has come within three minutes of Paula's time. Wanjiru set the men's course record at 2:05:10 in 2009 in the Men's Elite Race. This is 4:45 miling for 26 miles.